Increasingly Costly Items

Of course we all know the cost of goods is increasing, and the amounts in the packaging is decreasing. (Actually, I do not believe the cost of goods is increasing, but rather the US Dollar is worth less and less all the time.) Some things are already (or soon will be) taking a bigger hit than others... here are some of my notes:

Expect the price of cane sugar to increase now that some manufacturers are (finally) switching from High Fructose Corn Syrup back to real sugar. Plus, most of our cane sugar is imported, and so far Monsanto hasn't broadcast GMO sugar cane although they are trying. They have already succeeded with sugar beets. Unless a package of sugar specifies cane sugar, it probably IS GMO beet sugar. Food products must be labeled as to contents, and sweet things may just say "sugar" although I have seen some that do specify "cane sugar". Thus far, labels saying "Non-GMO" are not allowed.

Most fruit and fruit juices are imported, either whole... or as concentrates. Expect prices to increase more than many other items due to transportation across an ocean, and cold-storage costs. Transportation costs are similar for coffee, although overall costs for coffee are worse now because world-wide weather problems have affected the coffee production yields.

Chocolate: same problems with chocolate as with coffee... weather, and transportation around the world. I'm not a big fan of chocolate but occasionally I like a bite. I buy the high percentage (84%) cocoa bars made by Lindt, since they are mostly chocolate rather than sugar, and less expensive so far than other brands. One bar can last a month or more for me, and they work well in baked goods or shaved on top of a dessert.

Stock up on whatever fruits and veggies are in season by dehydrating or canning them so there are no worries about power outages and a freezer full of food. Where you can, store winter veggies in a cool basement, in a crawl space, or in a root cellar if you are lucky enough to have one. Even the bottom of a cool, dark closet can extend the shelf life of winter produce much longer than a kitchen cabinet.

All building materials are increasing in price... particularly items like the wood used for framing because large-enough trees to mill are getting more scarce and thus more expensive to harvest (which makes paper goods made from wood pulp more expensive, too); also items like plastic plumbing parts and roofing shingles because they are petroleum-based products. 

Any household goods made from plastic, and most cleaning goods, will increase more than other items... again because of being petroleum-based. Take an hour a day away from the TV and learn to make your own laundry detergent and soap. Use vinegar for cleaning; it's antibacterial! Learn to ignore the seductive ads for products. Ask yourself how much an item will increase your quality of life, not your ego or taste buds. (That doesn't mean give up tasty foods!)

The insurance industry in the USA is taking a big hit from tornadoes and floods. Expect them to make it up by big jumps in policy costs for home and auto. Don't even think about health-care costs or health-care insurance!

Don't buy disposable batteries. Buy a solar multi-battery charger and good rechargeable batteries instead. My niece who lives here goes through 4-8 batteries a month for her iPod. In less than 1 year, she'll break even with a solar charger and rechargeable batteries. I know, I just helped her mother buy some.

Now, to offset what I said about buying frivolous items, let me encourage you to buy some fun things... one a month should not hurt the budget too much. Buy a set of Pick-Up Sticks and Tiddlywinks, a Chess-Checkers-Backgammon Set, a Scrabble Game Set (and be sure you have a real dictionary), a couple of decks of Playing Cards, and Hoyle's Book of Card Games. Maybe get a set of Jacks (remember them?) and a couple of yo-yo's and a Slinky if you have kids around. You'll be surprised how entertaining they can be when the power goes out!

Storing Apples

Apples store quite well* in my root cellar although in the 4 winters I've been here, I haven't had many to store. On my recent trip to Charlottesville, I stopped at Drumheller's Orchard in the Blue Ridge foothills near Lovingston, VA. I have bought peaches there several times but this is the first year I have been up there during apple season. The folks there are super friendly and helpful; their peaches have always been outstanding so I assumed their apples would be also.

On my way up, I stopped for apple samples that fit my criteria: tart taste, and long storage time. I sampled the selections during my stay in Charlottesville, and stopped back at the orchard on my way home to buy 2 of the 3 varieties I sampled. 

I bought a half bushel of Albemarle Pippins, my favorite of the bunch. I would have bought a whole bushel of those, except the few remaining in the big wooden bins had been pretty well picked over. The other variety I bought was a half-bushel of Pink Lady apples. The taste was good but not quite as spectacular as the Pippin, although it keeps longer.

Since I often go for a week or two without opening the root cellar, sometimes food has spoiled from an overlooked bad spot. I didn't want that to happen with these apples, and the way to prevent spoilage is two-fold. The most important is to buy fruit that is unblemished and unbruised. The second thing is to wrap them individually so if one spoils, it doesn't affect all the others.

Pink Lady apple, ready to wrap

You can wrap the apples in newspaper, but if you do, be sure to avoid any with colored inks. (The colored inks contain heavy metals.) Our local paper has color on every page, even the classified, so I ended up buying tissue paper. The Dollar Store had packs of 40 sheets (20" x 20") for $1, and I cut them down to about 14" x 14" for ease in handling.

Most of my apples still had the stems so I had to place the apples on the tissue paper stem-up so the stem didn't poke a hole in the paper. (The objective of wrapping is to keep the apples from touching each other, so tears are a no-no.) Gently twist the paper corners around the apple, doesn't have to be tight, just enough to keep the apple inside the paper.

Stack them in a container to keep them off the floor. A cardboard box would work just fine.

Pink Lady Apples

Since I have 2 varieties of apples, I left a single apple on the top to identify the contents.

Albemarle Pippin Apples

I'm really glad I decided to wrap my apples. Close inspection revealed about a dozen Pippins that have tiny bits of damage, mostly some small nicks, but enough that I suspect they would not keep well. I cannot blame anyone since I picked them out myself. To be honest, it was a little dark in the apple house, and that bin was empty almost down to the bottom. I left the slightly damaged apples on top of the basket so I'd know which ones I need to use first.


Apples are now in the cool, dark root cellar, safe winter storage for several months!

*Note: Apples should not be stored with potatoes in the same room. As they age, potatoes release an otherwise harmless gas that makes apples spoil faster.